Friday, August 23, 2013

The Glass Castle Review

It's not often a writer can relate a painful memoir with
unabashed good humor, wit, and most especially, freedom from self-pity. In The
Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls does just that, leaving us with some of the most
memorable scenes and eccentric characters to come from a modern memoirist in
the last decade.

Jeannette is the
second of Rex and Rose Mary Walls' four children: after Lori, and before Brian
and Maureen. Rex is a charismatic man, an entrepreneur of sorts, who happens to
indulge in "a little bit" of drinking; his wife is a smart,
free-spirited artist. We quickly realize Rex and Mary are ill-equipped to
parent -- or to fend for themselves for that matter. As they continuously fail
to define their own lives, they invariably define the lives of their children
as a seemingly never-ending struggle to survive.

The story unfolds
with a heartrending scene in which three-year-old Jeannette is trying to cook
some hot dogs, and in doing so, sets herself on fire. After spending some time
in the hospital, with burns requiring skin grafts, Rex decides to
"rescue" Jeannette from the hospital, and the family sets off for
life on the road. For a time, they live in the desert, often moving from small
town to small town; the children are considered outsiders and struggle to fit
in.

Christmas is a
holiday they celebrate a week after everyone else, gathering tossed Christmas
decorations, and taking advantage of after-holiday sales. One of the most
touching passages in the book is when Rex takes his children out to the desert
and lets each pick out a star to claim as their Christmas gift. Jeannette
points out that stars are not tangible, and therefore can't belong to anyone
and can't be gifted. Rex romanticizes her logic by pointing out that stars are
the best gifts, as no one has claim to them, and stars will outlast any gift
other children might receive.

Unfortunately, as
time goes on, Rex's drinking only gets worse. Rose Mary resents the idea of
taking a job. And as the children grow older, they realize their parents are
never going to change their ways. The siblings begin to plot their escape. From
here, Jeanette traces her path toward achieving success against the odds and
coming to terms with her past.

It is striking and
inspirational to read about someone who has lead such a turbulent life and
still managed to make it out the other end, all the better.